Thursday, July 27, 2006

MINJAROES : Changing One's Mindset Part 2

Next on the list is 'Rohani' @ the Spiritual aspect of a person. The spiritual wellbeing of a person determines their balance of between the pursuit of the materialistic needs to sustain oneself in this world and also keep alive the spirit of the soul to be in good relationship with The Creator.

In Islam, we have our spiritual practices that is obligatory on every Muslim. This aspect of spiritual maintenance is exercised 5 times a day when a Muslim performs his or her prayer @ solat.

It is not just a physical set of motions that one sees from the exterior of a Muslim in prayer. To the uninitiated, one might see a Muslim standing at attention on a prayer mat or any other clean surfaced ground, in total concentration or attempt to be so (depends on the stage of a person's levels of Iman). Then you will see the Muslim or Muslimah recite their prayers ( men audibly in the Subuh, Maghrib and 'Isya prayers) ; women in their hearts ( aren't allowed to recite out loud).

Internally, such prayers are beneficial to normalising any spiritual stress that the Muslim is suffering from. This rebalancing of the soul takes place when one surrenders oneself in both body and soul to the Mercy and Blessings of the Creator.

Psychologically, the Solat @ Muslim Prayer is very calming and returns a Sense of Peace to the soul of a Muslim. One does not need to go lie on a Psychiatrist's lounge chair and pour out his or her problems to another humanbeing who do have their own set of problems to contend with and worry about.

The benefits of Solat @ Muslim Prayer is that it helps one achieve a spiritual renaissance each and every time the Muslim performs his or her prayer. Like the parable given by God's Greatest Messenger, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Sallalahu Alaihi Wassallam @ Peace be upon him), the example of one who performs the 5 daily prayers is alikened to one taking 5 showers a day or crossing 5 flowing rivers in the same period.

Whatever grime, dust, dirt, sweat and miseries of life that has set on a person is washed away at each shower, each river crossing , each Solat thus refreshing, rejuvenating, rebalancing the condition of one's soul after each prayer.

Not a sen needs to be paid to anyone to attain this spiritual wellbeing. The internal satisfaction that one gets when one lays down one's forehead in total surrender to the Mercy and Salvation of God Almighty , removes any sense of stress and emotional trauma or distress from the soul of the Muslim.

That is the reason why the 'Rohani' @ Spiritual aspect of a person needs to be taken care of and maintained to be on par with the rigors of today's hectic lifestyles and in these volatile times plaguing the realm of mankind's constant strifes and disputes, the more the need for us to be at peace within our souls and sense of being.

Next comes 'Emosi' @ Emotions. To be a successful person in whatever field one chooses to be , the needs to be emotionally balanced is very crucial to survive in today's personal, domestic,educational, business, industrial and social environments.

No one likes to deal with an emotionally imbalanced person. Any signs of emotional imbalnce on a person's part will see the person immediately be shunned and none would dare to be near him or her for fear of getting harmed from the emotionally imbalanced and unstable person.

MINJAROES takes into consideration the need to maintain a well balanced disposition of emotional stability and exercises fine tuning and constant restoration of the sense of being emotionally stable in dealing with the daily challenges in one's day to day affairs and workloads.

Self realisation of one's plus points and areas that need work to be done is an important aspect of self development. In our book, we will expound in detail the ways to achieve that.

Finally comes the integral part of a person's 'Sosial' @ Social skills. Living in a multicultural, multi religious society needs a well developed sense of being able to co-exist in peace and harmony with others who are so very different from oneself in aspects of the religious-socio context.

We as Malaysians have the best opportunity to experience various cultures, witness the many rites and traditions of so many faiths and expressions of belief. Muslims have their own religious practices, Christians with their forms of prayer, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, etcetera.

The well balanced individual who practices what MINJAROES is teaching will learn to be a more tolerant, acceptive and rational peace loving individual who will be able to survive in whatever social situation that they find themselves in.

Knowing how to conduct oneself when caught in any sensitive or awkward situations, will see the person survive and be accepted by society without fear of being harmed in any way. This very important sense of social skills is important to be nurtured and developed within oneself to succeed in life no matter where one ends up.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

MINJAROES : Changing one's Mindset !

Greetings! My name is Dr.Ahmad Roslan bin Johari and I am the Rector of a GLC College here in Malaysia.

Malaysians have come a long way from being in agriculture and tin mining days to now being together with the rest of the world in developing the Information Technology and harnessing the winds of change blowing strongly in this vibrant and challenging world.

To keep up with the changes and to adopt and adept oneself with what it takes to be up there among the successful superstars of business and industry, one needs to first and foremost, develop one's own individual self to be on par if not better than the rest.

How do you do it? Just talking about it or dreaming about it , gets you nowhere. You need to evaluate your entire self.

What is your plus points and what's putting you down?

The main root cause of a person's success or failure is the mindset. What sort of a thinking comes out of that brain? Does the individual accept that he or she is not yet perfect and needs to learn, adopt and adapt him or herself with what he or she is lacking or does the individual just build up walls around his or herself and try to ignore the changes taking place all around?

MINJAROES is a concept that I have come up with and is centred on developing a person from all angles necessary that when put into practice will help the individual to change for the better and be a well informed, well trained person who will be able to tap into the advanced technological, spiritual, mental, physical and religious understandings to cope with the challenges of today and the days to come!

My friend Zainol Abideen, a Program Consultant with a major Chinese University's Hanyu Study Centre is helping me to put all my thoughts and ideas here in this blog and we plan to write a book soon to share with you everything that MINJAROES can help you develop your present personal skills and capabilities to a stage much higher than what you are at the present moment in your life.

MINJAROES is an acronym of 5 main components of this personal development concept that I have designed and authored to help my fellow Malaysians and the rest of mankind to move ahead in their own lifes!

'Minda' is the Malay word for the 'mindset' of a person. It is the most important aspect of a person's sense of direction and personal pursuit of ambition and desire to venture forth and succeed in any chosen profession or industry.

It is the mindset that determines your heading in life. With a proper mindset that has been trained to adopt and adept itself to the needs and wants of the current lifestyle and continuous training and learning of the necessary skills that one has to have within him or herself, the chances of achieving success is much more better than to just wander into the labyrinth of life!

'Jasmani' is the Malay word for the 'physical' aspect of one's being. Every individual needs to have a healthy, vibrant, well maintained physique in order to be able to live and work in a normal, self reliant, state of wellbeing that enables one to do anything within the needs of one's profession, career and lifestyle.

To have a healthy, well balanced , physical self , one needs to exercise regularly, eat only healthy foods and drinks and avoid all those harmful cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, and damaging substances that will destroy us in the long run. A healthy body sustains a healthy disposition in life and ensures our survival and continuance in this earthly life. A healthy mind depends on a healthy body.